July 2009

Ever since Long Way Round, I’ve been a Charley Boorman fanboy, following his travel and adventure exploits in Race to Dakar, Long Way Down and By Any Means. A few weeks ago I was able to meet him in person at a UNICEF press conference during the Philippine leg of season two of By Any Means.

I couldn’t very well let the opportunity to photograph him just slip away, so I brought some cameras, including the Nishika N8000, to shoot him with. He is literally the first subject I used the Nishika on and I am happy with the results.

So a few hours ago I received my first results from the Nishika N8000 3D camera, developed and scanned to CD for me by Digiprint. While the scanning did leave a lot to be desired (poor scan cropping and alignment, low resolution, inconsistent tone and saturation), I am happy to announce that the camera, rescued from a friend’s rubbish bin, does in fact work.

In the week or so since I posted an entry about my new old camera, the Nishika N8000 3D lenticular camera, I’ve been scouring the web, looking for whatever material I can find about this strange piece of kit. I struck paydirt on Youtube.

The celebrity endorser for the Nishika N8000 was none other than Vincent Price, horror icon and star of many a 3D horror flick (He was also the narrator in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, MJ RIP). Here is perhaps one of the strangest photography video instructionals ever to be released. Enjoy.

After five great years of helping revive the art, music and culture scene in the urban enclave of Cubao, my favorite antique-retro-curio store Vintage Pop closed shop permanently last night. The owner, Bong Salaveria, is moving to Canada with his family in a few months and setting up shop there. Vintage Pop closed not with a whimper, as many shops do, but with a bang, going out in a party flowing with beer and nachos, full of friends and well-wishers. Most of the store’s stock of clocks, tin robots, old cameras and record players had been packed away, for shipping to Vancouver. Only their ghosts remained, on the walls outlined in colored chalk and permanent marker.

Still, there were a lot of odds and ends for sale piled up in bins and on the floor, and one of those odd bits was a Nishika N8000 lenticular camera. The latch to the door was broken and black electrical tape was used to keep the door shut, but otherwise it looked like it would work. A quick test revealed that the mechanicals still worked. Bong saw me fiddling with it and came over. “You know, Karlo, I have no more use for that. Keep it. It’s yours. ”

I gladly accepted, promising Bong I’d send him a 3D photo if I got the camera to work. Which is a promise I intend to keep.

Here’s a few shots of this strange oversized camera. More info in the days to come.

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

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